Teller County firearms instructor offers free concealed carry permit class to educators

In the wake of the Florida shooting, there has been a lot of discussion about how to make our schools safer.

One suggestion brought up repeatedly is arming teachers with firearms in schools.

A firearms instructor in Teller County, Erik Stone, says schools should consider this as a serious option if teachers are willing to take the training courses.

Stone decided to offer a free concealed carry class on Sunday for educators and first responders.

Stone’s wife works at Woodland Park High School, where he also has a child attending school, and all the school threats lately prompted him to host the class.

Stone says it was a full class of 20 people on Sunday.

“I think moving forward and reviewing their security plans they should consider allowing teachers… trained teachers, to carry concealed in the classroom and trained me on just concealed handgun but trained through a program like Faster,” said Stone.

The group “Faster” specializes in helping educators with intensive training for active shooters, and the first Faster classes in Colorado were held in Weld County last summer.

To even apply for that class, educators need a concealed carry permit.

Stone hopes with classes like the one he held on Sunday, teachers can seek out that more intensive training if they choose to, without going through extra hoops to get into the class.